Paroled mom works to repair relationship with children

Chronicle/Megan LangeVanessa
Smith was released from prison last spring. With no job, no car and has been in and out of prison, but she said she is determined to stay out of prison.
For Vanessa Smith of Muskegon, independence has taken on a new meaning.

For the first time since 1994, after serving time in prison and living in a local women’s shelter last summer, she moved into her own place last fall.

For more than a decade, Smith, 46, has been in and out of women’s correctional facilities for embezzlement, uttering and publishing, and property theft.

After her first prison stint, it wasn’t long before she was incarcerated again.

“I never made parole because I needed resources to help me,” she said. “Every time I came home, there were no resources. I stayed with friends until that got old, then I went back to what I knew.”

Her first prison stint was in 1996, when she served time in women’s facilities in Plymouth and Coldwater.

In 2005, she resolved to “stop the revolving door.”

“My life had to change, and I sought a higher power to help me do that,” said Smith.

Born and raised in Chicago, Smith came to Muskegon in 1978 to live with a cousin.

She has three children: a son who lives in Muskegon, and a daughter in South Carolina and another son who is incarcerated in Manistee.

Her children were raised primarily by their grandmother and did not visit their mother in prison. Today, Smith and her children are trying to mend their relationship. But it is a slow process.

After Smith was released from prison last spring, she went to the Transitional Living Center run by West Michigan Therapy.

As part of her voluntary participation in MPRI, Smith received help with transportation. TLC gave her a place to stay and provided group therapy.

Smith and her MPRI-assigned mentor also worked together to get what she needed for her new residence.

On parole until the end of April, Smith must prove to the state that she’ll walk the line, and to her children that she will not slip out of their lives and back into prison.

Smith said she is up to the challenge.

“I’m starting with nothing and I’m all right with it,” said Smith. “God has been opening up many doors for me and I’m seeing it now. It’s not my doing.”